Curated category
Former French colonies
- GrenadaChristopher Columbus sighted the island of Grenada during his third voyage to the Americas in 1498. He named it La Concepción in honour of the Virgin Mary.
- DominicaDominica first emerged from the sea during the Oligocene Epoch approximately 27 million years ago. It stands as one of the last Caribbean islands to be…
- DjiboutiCut stones dated about 3 million years old have been collected in the area of Lake Abbe. In the Gobaad plain, between Dikhil and Lake Abbe, the remains of…
- Burkina FasoArchaeological excavations in 1973 uncovered scrapers, chisels, and arrowheads dating back to the period between 14,000 BC and 5,000 BC.
- HaitiOn the 6th of December 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on the northeastern coast of Hispaniola and named the area Môle-Saint-Nicolas.
- Mandate for Syria and the LebanonOn the 29th of September 1923, France received the League of Nations mandate for Syria. This territory included what is now Lebanon and Alexandretta…
- CambodiaIn 802 AD, Jayavarman II declared himself king and united the warring Khmer princes of Chenla under the name Kambuja. This declaration marked the beginning…
- MississippiAround 9500 BC, the first human groups arrived in what is now Mississippi. These Paleo-Indians hunted megafauna that would soon vanish from the landscape.
- Saint-DomingueIn 1625, French buccaneers established a settlement on the island of Tortuga. They survived by pirating ships and eating wild cattle and hogs.
- LouisianaThe Watson Brake site near present-day Monroe stands as the oldest mound complex in North America. Archaeologists date this eleven-mound structure to…
- IllinoisIllinois sits at the geographic and demographic center of the United States, a state that political strategists and journalists have long called a…
- French MadagascarIn May 1862, Britain's foreign secretary John Russell instructed his envoy to keep Madagascar away from foreign powers. This alliance held until 1882 when…